The invention relates to a process for producing pack blanks by tearing off from a web of material with perforations or the like to define the blanks and for feeding them to conveying or folding unit, especially a folding turret, the blanks being torn off from the web of material in succession as a result of tensile force. The invention relates, furthermore, to an apparatus for producing and conveying pack blanks.
The invention is concerned with a special method of producing blanks in conjunction with a packaging machine and of feeding them to the folding and conveying units. The blanks in question consist of relatively thick or firm packaging material, especially thin cardboard, although they are supplied in the form of webbed material. Within the webs of material, the blanks are prestamped and connected to one another by means of perforations or other lines of weakness. For the processing of the blanks within the packaging machine, residual connections between the adjacent blanks are eliminated by tearing, so that individual blanks are then provided.
German Patent Application P 37 16 897.5 of 20th May 1987 (corresponding to U.S. patent application No. 07/184,640, filed Apr. 21, 1988) is concerned with a preferred sector of use of the above-described technique for the production of blanks. This relates to the formation and processing of blanks made of thin cardboard for hinge-lid (cigarette) packs. The relatively complex blanks are oriented with their longitudinal extension transverse relative to the longitudinal direction of the web of material and are connected to one another in selected regions by means of residual connections or perforations. For the processing of the blanks, these are torn off from the web of material in succession and fed to a folding turret or the like.